Transport attachment for grain press drill



Jan. 19, 1960 c. L. ROPPEL TRANSPORT ATTACHMENT FOR GRAIN PRESS mum.

Filed May 27, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Clarence L. Rappe/ INVENTOR.

9 BY n4 Jan. 19, 1960 C. L. ROPPEL TRANSPORT ATTACHMENT FOR GRAIN PRESS DRILL Filed May 27, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Clarence L. Ropp e/ [N VEN TOR.

Mad-3a.. BY ww x Unite Sttcs TRANSPORT ATTACHIVIENT FOR GRAIN PRESS DRHJL Clarence L. Roppel, Fairrlale, N. Dale Application May 27, 1957, Serial No. 661,864

Claims. (Cl. 172240) This invention relates to a transport attachment for a grain press drill to facilitate the locomotionthereof.

An object of the present invention is to provide a farm implement attachment which is of a practical nature having for its function the facilitation of moving a grain press drill by lifting the packing Wheel above the ground level and holding them in an elevated position. This is accomplished by an attachment which features a lever that is carried by a bar whose inner end is separably attached to the grain press drill frame and whose outer ends supports auxiliary wheels. The lever has a hook operative connected with it, this hook being adapted to engage under the packing wheel axle, the axle being ordinarily supported at the outer end of a swinging bar, the inner end of this bar being ordinarily pivotally connected with the frame of the grain press drill. Therefore, all that is necessary for the elevation of the heavy packing wheels of a standard grain press drill, is the application of my attachment by simply hooking under or to the frame of the drill and then pulling down on the lever enabling it to automatically lock in the depressed position at which the heavy packing wheels of the drill are elevated. The auxiliary wheels of my attachment are made for road travel or overland travel so as to facilitate the movement of the drill from one place to another.

Another object of the invention is to provide a press drill transportation attachment which is easily applied and removed from the drill and which is especially serviceable because of its mechanical simplicity and ease of use. One man is capable of easily attaching or separating the attachment from the drill frame and also of manipulating the levers. It is preferred that my attachment be constructed of varying sizes and where the width of the drill indicates, my attachment be used as a ganged assembly with one attachment for each group of packing wheels.

Other objects and features of importance will become apparent in following the description of the illustrated form of the invention.

Figure 1 is a top view of an attachment for a grain press drill, the illustrated grain press drill having three groups of packing wheels and therefore, the attachment is constructed of three units, one unit for each group of packing wheels;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a similar sectional view but showing the attachment applied to the grain press drill but with the operating lever and the packing wheels of the drill still remaining in the soil;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary sectional View showing a part of the attachment in the position of Figure 3; and.

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view on an enlarged scale taken approximately upon the line 55 of Figure 2 and showing the axle hook.

In the accompanying drawings there is a commercially Patented Jan. 19, 1960 available grain press drill 10 which, amongother structure, has a generally rectangular frame 12 with a frame member 14 parallel to the rear frame member 16 and the front frame member 18 to which tongue 20 is fixed. The grain box or boxes 22 are mounted above the general plane of frame 12 enabling the seed drop 24 to depend through the open frame 12 behind the furrow openers 26. These are carried by support arms 28 that are suspended from horizontal pivot bar 30, the latter being supported by hangers 32 which are attached to frame 12. Means including rods 34, are provided for elevating the furrow openers 26, this being part of the press drill 10.

in the illustrated drill there are three groups 38, 40 and 42 of packing wheels which are arranged to follow the seed drops and to close the furrows made by furrow openers 26. Each group of wheels is constructed the same and therefore, group 42 is discussed in detail. It is made of an axle 44 which is capable of swinging up and down since it is carried by two bars 46 and 48 capable of moving up and down. Bearings are on the axle for this purpose and spacers hold the packing wheels 50 properly spaced in relation to the spacing of the furrow openers 26 inorder to close the furrows after seeds are dropped therein. The opposite ends of bars 46 are mounted on pivot assemblies 52 and 54 which are carried by the rear frame members 16.

My attachment 60 is for the group 42 of wheels. The attachments 61 and 62 are identical to attachment 6i and are for groups 40 and 38.0f wheels respectively. The attachment is constructed of two levers 63 and 64 with handles 65 and 68 at the outer ends thereof. The inner ends of the levers have right angular arms 69 and 70 protruding laterally therefrom, these arms being bifurcated so that hooks 71 and 72 fit between the furcations. As shown in Figure 4 hook 71 is constructed of a shank 73 with a bill 74 at the end thereof. A group of holes 75 provides an option within which pivot pin 76 is accommodated, the pin being carried by the furcations of arms 69. The bill 74 of the hook 71 is adapted to engage under the axle 44, and in so doing it forms a saddle bearing for axle 44. Beam 78 has a hook 80 at its inner end which engages and embraces the transverse frame member 14, fitting between seed drops 24 and between packing wheels 50. The hook end of the beam may be made extensibly adjustable for fitting various makes of press drills. Beam 78 may be of channel construction with the flanges depending downwardly. A hole 81 is formed in the beam 78 and constitutes a guide for book 71 whose shank passes through hole 81. Corresponding beam 82 is similarly connected by hook 83 to the frame member 1-4 and has hook 72 passed through a hole. Hook 72 is operatively connected with lever 64 in a manner identical to the connection between 63 and hook 71. In addition the fulcrums of the levers are associated with the two beams under discussion in a similar manner. Beam 78 has a transverse pin 88 welded thereto and passed into holes 79 in arms 69 and 70 to form a fulcrum at the junction of lever 63 with its arm 69. The arms 69 and 70 are located in the outer side surfaces of beams 78 to prevent lateral sliding while the lever is being moved.

Auxiliary wheels 89 and 90 are at the ends of axle 91, the axle is held captive within a pair of hooks 92, there being one hook on each of the two beams 78 and. 82. Locking bars 93 are fixed to the levers63 and 64 and are adapted to pass through holes 94 in beams 78 and 82 to occupy a position parallel to one side of hooks 92 and thereby hold axle 91 captive within the hookswhen the levers 93 and 94 are in a depressed, packing wheel 50 elevating position. A spring closed bolt 95 is attached to the lever 63 and is spring projected through hole: 96

inkeeper'97 which is welded or otherwise secured to the top surface of beam 78; An identical spring loaded-bolt and keeper are provided for the lever 64. A hand operator 98 is pivoted to lever 63 and is attached to the spring closed bolt"95 by a-string, cable 99, or the like to facilitate the retraction of bolt 95' from its keeper,

In operation, the attachment 60 is applied to theframe 12 by engaging-hooks 80 and 8-3 with the frame member 14-and. fitting the hooks 71 and'72'under-axle 44-. The auxiliary wheels 89, 90 and their axle 91 are located'in the hooks orhangers 92. Then, the two levers 63 and 64 in unison, are pulled downwardly thereby simultaneously lifting the hooks 71 and 72 and latching axle 91 in place, When axle 44 is-elevated from the position shown in Figure 3 to the position shown in Figure 2, the bars 48 and 46 are'pivotally swung, books 71 and 72 and lever 63 and 64 moving slightly to compensate for the slight arc in the travel ofaxle'44 caused by the pivotal suspension of bars 48 and 46. Latch rods 93'hold axle 91 captive by passing through the holes 94 as described previously, and the spring closed'bolts 95 engaging with their keepers 97 to retain the levers 63- and 64 in a latched position at which the packing wheels 50 are elevated and the auxiliary wheels 90 and 89 are in ground engaging position.

In instances where three groups of wheels are used, there will be threeattachments or attachment units as described previously. It is understood that any number from one toany practical value, of attachments may be used with the'grain press drill. Other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An attachment for a press grain drill which includes a frame having frame side and cross members together with packing wheel axles and packing wheels which support said packing wheels, means mounting said axles on the frame for swinging movement, said attachment comprising a pair of beams, said beams having inner ends and outer ends, means at said inner ends of said beams for engaging one of said frame cross members and thereby separably attaching said beams to said frame member, hangers having an open portion near the other ends of said beams for separably supporting auxiliary axles that are provided with auxiliary wheels, means carried intermediate the ends of said beams for elevating said packing wheels and holding said packing Wheels in an elevated position, said packing wheel elevating means comprising for each beam, a lever having an arm" at one end thereof, a fulcrum on'said lever and contacting one of said beams, a hook, means securing said hook to said arm, said hook having a bill engageable with one of said packing wheel axles to lift said packing wheel axle and the packing wheels supported by saidpacking wheel axle, said lever swingable to a position approximately parallel to said beam when lifting said packing wheel axle, locking rods on said lever and movable to a position adiacent to said open portion of one of said hangers to hold one of said auxiliary wheel axles captive in said hanger when said lever is approximately parallel to said beam.

2. The attachment of claim 1 wherein there are manually operable locks attached to said levers and said beams to releasably hold said levers in the approximately parallel position with said beams.

3. In a grain drill of the press type that has axle sup ported packing wheels trailing a frame and capable of being elevated, an attachment to facilitate transporting the drill, said attachment comprising a pair of beams, means separably attaching said beams to said frame with said beams extending from the frame rearwardly to a position behind said axle supported packing wheels in all positions of said packing wheels, auxiliary wheels, a releasably mounted axle on which said auxiliary Wheels are supported, each beam having means including a lever pivoted to said beam and a hook connected to the lever for lifting said axle supporting said packing wheels by engaging the axle of said packing wheels and elevating the same with respect to said beams, and means connected with said levers and said beams for locking-said auxiliary wheel supporting axle to said beams simultaneously with the lifting of said packing wheels supporting axle.

4. In a grain drill of the press type that has axle supported packing wheels trailing a frame and capable of being elevated, an attachment to facilitate transporting the drill, said attachment comprising a pair of beams, means separably attaching said beams to said frame with said beams extending from the frame rearwardly to a position behind said axle supported packing wheels, auxiiiary wheels, an axle on which said auxiliary wheels are supported, means attaching said axle and the auxiliary wheels to said beams, means carried intermediate the ends of said beams for elevating said packing wheels and holding said packing wheels in an elevated position, said packing wheel elevating means comprising for each beam, a lever, a hook, means attaching said hook to the lever whereby said hook will lift said axle supported packing wheels by engaging the axle of said packing wheels and elevating the same with respect to said beams, said last mentioned attaching means including an aim protruding laterally from said lever and to which said hook is adjustably secured said arm lying in approximately the same plane as said lever occupies when said lever-is operatively "loved, said lever having a fulcrum connection with its respective beam so that it is capable of pivoting when said lever is manually moved to the packing wheel elevating position, said lever and arm being bifurcated with the furcations thereof contacting the side edges of said beam to prevent said lever from shifting laterally with respect to said beam, said means releasably attaching said auxiliary axle to said beams including axle hangers on each beam, and mechanical means operative simultaneously with saidmovement of said levers to the packing wheel axle lifting position for latching said auxiliary wheel axle to said beams.

5. In a grain drill of the press type that has axle supported packing wheels trailing a frame and capable of being elevated, an attachment to facilitate transporting the drill, said attachment comprising a pair of beams extending from the frame rearwardly to a position behind said axle supported packing wheels when said packing wheels are in the raised and lowered positions, auxiliary wheels, an auxiliary Wheel axle on which said auxiliary wheels are supported, means releasably attaching said auxiliary wheel axle and the auxiliary wheels to said beams, means carried intermediate the ends of said beams for elevating said packing wheels and holding said packing wheels in an elevated position, said packing wheel elevating means comprising for each beam a lever pivoted with respect to said beam, a hook, means attaching said hook to the lever whereby said hook may lift said axle supported packing wheels by engaging the axle of said packing wheels and elevating the same with respect to said beams, said last mentioned attaching means including an arm protruding laterally from said lever and to which said hook is adjustably secured, said arm lying in approximately the same plane as said lever when said lever is operatively moved, said lever having a fulcrum connec tion with its respective beam so that it is capable of pivoting when said lever is manually moved to the packing wheel elevating position, said lever and arm being-bifurcated with the fur-cations thereof contacting the side edges of said beam to prevent said lever from shifting laterally with respect to said beam, and means carried by both of said beams for automatically locking said axle of said auxiliary wheels in place when said levers are moved to the position for elevating said packing wheels and the axle thereof.

References Cited in the file of this. patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Wicks Feb. 25, 1896 

